Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law Tuesday which not only bans dismemberment abortion in the state; it prohibits the purchase or sale of baby body parts. The law also requires that aborted remains be disposed of in a humane and respectful way.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) announced a new strategic plan to “raise the bar” in preventing child abuse in the Lone Star State. The goal is to move from a plan based primarily on investigation-based efforts to an overall effort to strengthen families.

The Texas Senate Republican Caucus says that a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine about women’s health services in Texas is “misleading” and “excludes major facts” about services in the Lone Star state.

The Texas Senate Health and Human Services committee began their investigation on aborted baby body part sales and questioned witnesses at the state Capitol for over four hours on Wednesday. The committee met to examine the business practices and regulatory structure of Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas, and to investigate whether state or federal laws were broken with regard to the donation and/or sale of fetal tissue.

The Texas State Senate has voted in favor a bill that would ban insurance coverage for abortion. The ban applies to private health insurance plans, including qualified plans offered through health benefit exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).

Pro-vaccination legislative fever is sweeping the nation faster than the recent measles and whooping cough outbreaks combined. Texas is no exception. A glut of proposed mandatory inoculation bills are moving through the 84th Legislative session. These are bills that would threaten existing vaccination exemptions.

The Texas Senate has passed a package of bills that include substantial reforms to the state’s franchise tax, a tax on a business’ gross margins. Conservatives are cheering the news, and turning a hopeful eye toward the House, where the fate of these reforms now rests.

AUSTIN, Texas — State Senator Dr. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown) sent an open letter on Tuesday to a group of business associations, challenging their opposition to SB 8, the Small Business Tax Relief Act. The bill was filed by Schwertner filed in February. The letter acknowledges the contribution that big businesses make to the Texas economy, but accuses them of neglecting the state’s small businesses in favor of protecting the interests of powerful big businesses.

After a long day of debate and passionate public testimony from both sides, the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee has voted to recommend that the Texas Senate pass both SB 11, the “campus carry” bill, and SB 17, the “open carry” bill. Both bills now head to the full Texas Senate for consideration. The vote came just before 6:00 pm Central Time on Thursday.